Making the most of social media

Social media is a great way to not only attract a worldwide audience, but also to brand yourself as a business online. There’s no one proven way to gain followers, but if you show your passion for your brand in your social profiles, the followers will come. We know it can be intimidating to tackle any kind of social media, so here's a few tips from Caroline Hjerpe to ease you in and refine your profiles:

1. Conceptualize your brand's voice

The most impactful and effective social media profiles have one thing in common: they have an style and a theme that unite their content. Your brand could be nautical, minimal or tropical - the important thing is that it's present across all of your content. Remember to also keep it personal: a face associated with your brand will give an authentic edge.

Instagram – Make sure your feed consists of images that are "on-brand" for you. It’s important not to “force” a photo, meaning not to upload a photo “just because you need to update."

Facebook & Twitter– Try to post updates that fit with your brand and image. You'll need to update your status regularly to be seen in news feeds -- know that posts with a photo tend to generate more engagement and clicks!

Heju take light and colorful pics that are in line with their brand and products.

2. Take photos that reflect your brand

Know this: photos are key. The common themebehind your posts could be a blue color tint or perhaps very dark and edgy color scheme. Try different types of posts and see how your followers react - how many likes and comments are you getting for each experiment? The most important thing to note is that once you find your theme, follow that theme. Don't mix and match; stay with one look that complements your brand. After a while, if you feel like people are getting bored of your photos, you can always do another round of experiments!

Tip! While your phone might take pictures that you claim are high quality, most people can tell you aren't using a professional camera. Here are some tips for taking professional quality photos.

Instagram – Below you can see @majasbok's Instagram. She has a wonderful feed with light and crisp shots that never stray "off-brand." An easy way to always have great content is to keep a library of pictures that you've saved up in advance for days when you don’t have time to take good photos.

Facebook& Twitter – Just because you don't have to upload photos, doesn't mean you shouldn't: people want to see pictures. It's easy to scroll past text, so captivate your readers with images!

The visual content you post is important, but it doesn't mean you shouldn't spend some time working on your word choice and writing style too. For some brands a light and fun tone of voice is appropriate, for others something more formal and straightforward might work better. Take a look at the examples below: Kate Copeland uses a minimal, almost cryptic tone which works with her deconstructed art, while Tincal Lab prefers a more fun and conversational tone which pairs well with their casual wear jewelry and accessories.

Tip!Only use one or two hashtags in the image description and add the rest in a comment. It's just so much more visually pleasing.

Facebook& Twitter – Hashtags aren't nearly as utilized on Facebook as they are on Twitter and Instagram, but adding one or two to increase your audience won't hurt. As for Twitter, keep in mind your character count, make sure to prioritize content as well as hashtags; generally, 75% of you characters should be reserved for actual content.

Instagram - Explore and like pictures on your friends' and friends' of friends Instagrams. Browse relevant hashtags and explore profiles similar to yours. Chances are they'll see your like, check you out, and maybe follow you back -- maybe it will even lead to a cool cross-brand collaboration!

Facebook & Twitter– Like and follow pages, tweets, posts and everything else that you think resonates with your brand. You could end up finding similar brands, getting a new customer, or maybe a new brand ambassador. For more on finding brand ambassadors click here.

6. Pick one channel, and do it well.

Tip!As a one-person show, doing everything at your company - from production, to sales, to book-keeping and marketing - is tough! If you don't have time to juggle more than one social media channel, pick the one channel that will reach your target audience, and do it well.

7. Be smart about post times

Instagram - If realistic, posting at least two times a day should be your goal. Planning ahead is the best strategy to success here but if you don't have any good pictures to upload, it's better to simply slow down your cadence.

Facebook & Twitter – You should post once a day on Facebook and tweet a few times a day. It is all about being seen, wherever you go and whatever platform you use to promote yourself. On Facebook and Twitter it’s harder to stick out so make sure you have something interesting to say. Facebook and Twitter are very trend based, so if you see that some hashtag or event is trending, think of an "on brand" post that applies to it!

Tip! Take some time to take a lot of pictures whenever you have free time, so that you can save these in a “picture bank” and upload on days when you don’t have the time to take new pictures.